Disposable academics

And another article on adjunct labor here:  Disposable academics.

Adjuncts as addicts?

Seems a bit controversial to me, but it may play in well for my diss!  See "Adjuncts are Addicts"

"Don't be that dude"--ending mansplaining in the University

This article on Tenure, She Wrote explains ways that men can help eliminate sexism in the University.  Interesting read.

The Adjunct Crisis in Visuals

Crisis or intentional structural adjustment?  This graphic presents an interesting visual of what's going on in the adjunct system.  It might be interesting to look into this a bit more and cross-reference it!

You can find The Adjunct Crisis here, from Progressive Geographies.

Death of an Adjunct

Here's a news story about a woman who passed away recently and was an adjunct faculty member.  It's interesting how the story focuses so much on her work and how that negatively impacted her health and ability to take care of herself.  Seems a bit over the tip, but could be an interesting case study.

Find the article Here, at the Post-Gazette.com

MLA Recommendations for Course Compensation

Go, MLA!

See the recommendations here. Or below:

MLA Recommendation on Minimum Per-Course Compensation for Part-Time Faculty Members

Recognizing that many variables enter into determinations of salary, the MLA believes that part-time faculty members should be compensated pro rata to salaries for full-time faculty members performing similar duties, whether by a per-course, per-credit-hour, or full-time-equivalent percentage. The following factors should be considered in determining compensation increases above annual minimums, as reflected in an appropriate salary schedule:

• Instructional workload: number of contact hours, class size, advising, and method for evaluating student work and assigning grades (e.g., labor-intensive reading and commenting on student papers)
• Ancillary duties, including but not limited to: recruitment; supervisory role and responsibilities; research, publication, other forms of professional development, and curriculum development
• Length of academic term (i.e., semester, quarter, trimester, or other system)
• Years of experience and professional degrees or other qualifications
• Health and retirement benefits: If benefits are not available to the instructor, an equivalent add-on premium or stipend should be added to the base salary to compensate for lack of benefits.
• Contracts or appointments: Higher than minimum rates of compensation should apply in cases where contracts or appointments are for one year or less and not renewable, have no provision for a career path consisting of a sequence of appointments leading to longer-term contracts, or (after a reasonable probationary period) provide no rights to due process procedures prior to termination.

Following a review of best practices in various institutions, the MLA recommends minimum compensation for 2013–14 of $7,090 for a standard 3-credit-hour semester course or $4,730 for a standard 3-credit-hour quarter or trimester course. These recommendations are based on a full-time load of 3 courses per semester (6 per year) or 3 courses per quarter or trimester (9 per year); annual full-time equivalent thus falls in a range of $42,540 to $42,570.

If compensation rates were specifically tied, pro rata, to the MLA’s 2013–14 recommendation of a $46,440 minimum annual salary for an entry-level full-time instructor, these rates would be $7,740 for a standard 3-credit-hour semester course and $5,160 for a standard 3-credit-hour quarter or trimester course. The MLA’s recommendation for the minimum salary for an entry-level full-time instructor in English and foreign languages is calculated on the basis of averages of salaries reported annually for these fields by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR).

Terms of Work for Composition -- Chapter 1, "Work"

I spent some time reading chapter 1 from Terms of Work for Composition yesterday, and I learned some interesting things.  Here are the highlights:

• Work often means producing academic texts, not teaching or administration (3)
• Courses are commodities owned by the institution, not the individual, which is part of why they aren't seen as work (6)
• There is a divide between intellectual/mental and non-intellectual/manual labor, and sometimes the teaching of Composition as seen as non-intellectual/manual labor (8)
• Unions can sometimes take away flexibility and freedom and autonomy, which is why they're not always the solution to academic labor issues; but Composition teachers may not lose a lot from them since they often have less freedom and autonomy from the start (22)

Overall, this chapter seems to be puzzling through what counts as "work" in the academy, in English departments, and in Composition.  Then it looks at the politics of these decisions and how they impact teachers/scholars/those in the field.

The discussion of unions on 24-26 still interests me -- I'd like to remember to ask Seth Kahn what he thinks of this discussion.  As part of the labor caucus, I've noticed that we discuss unions often, but I don't really get it all the time.  Maybe Seth can help?

Also, there was a citation that interested me (Gunner) related to the Wyoming resolution.  It looks like this is the article:

Gunner, Jeanne.  "The Fate of the Wyoming Resolution: A History of Professional Seduction."  Writing Ourselves Into the Story: Unheard Voices from Composition Studies.  Ed. Sheryl Fontaine and Susan Hunter.  Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1992. 107-22.

This might be kind of old to use in my Comps, but it also might be useful in my secondary section.  I'll look into this more soon.

Next up: read chapter 2 or read Sharon Crowley's review.